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Tamales

Around Christmas time in Utah it's very common to have people walking through wal-mart parking lots selling homemade tamales by the bag. That is the first time I had tasted anything other than the bitter scrawny canned variety. From that tamales equal Christmas to me. They were delicious and fun to me and I loved the day my mom decided to buy food from a total stranger for the entire family to risk ingesting. Obviously no one died.

One thing that struck me as I was making these was how much they reminded me of the siopao I made the other day. The flavors and execution were totally different so they shouldn't be the same at all. And yet it's a shredded meat with ethnic seasonings wrapped in a bread or breadlike exterior and cooked. I supposed it not that different from the American bbq sandwich or empanadas or even the Jamacain beef patties. A meatly filling, seasoned for local tastes, in a starchy pocket to eat.

So I saw someone selling tamales the new high tech way. The place we all gather for the holidays is not longer wal-mart. It's facebook. And I really wanted some. But she forgot about my order and I had to wait another two days, only I was busy that day so I cancelled my order. I had made tamales before, I could do it again right? The recipe turned out so well last time I didn't bother saving it and had to do some googling. So I made some. And they were fairly terrible. But since I had a lot of husks and masa left I decided to try again. This time going back to what I remembered from before.

The recipe I tried first say to make a thick dough, press it on to the corn husk, fill, and roll before steaming (more use of the bamboo basket!). The masa was super dry and I didn't like it. It was also so thick there was hardly space for the meat. That method had to go. A few years ago when I made them though the corn was more of a paste that I spread on the corn husk. I tried that method and it worked beautifully. I did remember that I had bought Maseca brand corn and used the recipe on the side of the bag so I googled them and found what I was looking for.

I cooked my pork roast in onion, garlic, salt, pepper, chili, oregano, and cumin. The next day I shredded and added some mole sauce, a little of the liquid from cooking, and or extra authenticity some TacoBell taco sauce. The rest of the liquid I used in the masa mix, and it was delicious. Of and a little turmeric for color on the pork.

I plan on making more but I would probably also still buy some if I had the chance. They are tedious to make and my filling has never been as good as the ones we bought in the parking lot.

As a self proclaimed food nerd I've put quite a bit of effort in to my study of other cultures cuisines. What stared as simple curiosity led to an in depth search to learn more. I've been lucky enough to traveled some in my life, across the US and some stops in Europe, Asia, and the Middle East.

This endeavor was formalized with this blog but it started quite a long time before that. I wanted a portfolio to chronical what I was learning. I wanted to have something to show. That's the trouble with food as a hobby, you eat your creations.

If you see something you like please leave a comment! If you have any suggestions of dishes to try email me at Queen.Reddd (at) gmail.com. I would love to hear from you.